Anatomy & Physiology instructor awarded for varied teaching methods

By Jill Aho

What does Shakespeare’s classic “Romeo and Juliet” have to do with muscle contractions? Instructor and recent Distinguished Teaching Award recipient Melissa Gonzales McNeal knows the answer.

McNeal uses the story characters to explain muscle contractions to her anatomy and physiology students. “I try to get every sense involved,” she said. McNeal maintains a website for her students where students can watch animations, review lectures and look at study slides. “And they all remember my Romeo and Juliet story,” she said.

McNeal began her schooling at Linfield College where she received a bachelor’s of science in 1994. She received her master’s degree from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in molecular and medical genetics in 2004. It was at OHSU that McNeal began her teaching career. “The first class I ever taught was DNA forensics at OHSU. Then I started teaching different genetics classes, and it bloomed from there,” she said. McNeal had planned on entering medical school, then decided to go into research.

She spent seven years working for OHSU as the lab coordinator in a genetics lab in the aging and Alzheimer’s center. She participated in research on brain aging, healthy brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

Ultimately, though, McNeal gives her husband credit for getting her interested in teaching. “He’s a high school teacher, that’s what his training is in. He was the one who got me interested in teaching. He said, ‘You would be a good teacher, you should try it,’” she said.

McNeal began teaching part-time in 2001 for Portland Community College in The Dalles. She was one of their first anatomy and physiology instructors for their nursing program She was hired by Mt. Hood Community College in 2004 as a part-time instructor, and this is her first year as a full-time teacher.

For McNeal, there’s a lot to like about teaching at MHCC. She said, “It’s a really good place. The faculty members are supportive and friendly, they’re great. My students are awesome. The whole atmosphere at Mt. Hood is a home-type atmosphere. It’s comfortable, it’s positive, supportive. As a first-year full-time teacher, I have had an awesome experience.”

McNeal said she was shocked by the recognition because winter term was a difficult one. “Basically, I was working double time. I had two lectures and seven labs.” In addition to the classes she was teaching, McNeal helped coordinate judges for the science fair and dealt with family illnesses. “It was an intense year, and the students were so supportive through all of it,” she said.

McNeal’s philosophy on teaching is to put the students first. “My job is to teach them, and not just to get them to do well on exams, but to teach them so they understand it.”

When dealing with her students, many of whom have full-time jobs or families to care for, McNeal draws on her personal experiences. She dropped out of Linfield to care for her ailing father, and then began working to pay bills. “I know what’s it’s like to drop out, go back, to work while you’re going to school. There are a lot of things I can relate to. I grew up in a very poor family, so I also know what it’s like to have your parents not expect you to go to college. I draw on all of that to relate to my students. There’s not one single experience, it’s all of it.”

McNeal said one of her high school humanities instructors inspired her greatly. “He taught me how to think, not just learn. He was one of the hardest instructors I ever had. At Linfield, my science instructors were phenomenal. At nine o’clock at night, they were available for questions. They were great teachers, so they all had influence,” she said.

Other than instructors, McNeal had another sort of mentor: her physician. “I was originally pre-medicine, so I’ve always been interested in medical. I was very sick as a child and spent a lot of time in hospitals, a lot of time around doctors. I was born immune deficient; I was born premature.” McNeal was born two months early, before her immune system was fully developed. Because of that she spent a lot time in hospitals as a child. “There was an immunologist that I was seeing quite a bit and he was an incredible mentor to me. He would actually send me medical articles to read. He was a huge influence on what I do now.”